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Carnitine palmitoyltransferase activity in the aging rat

In an effort to determine the metabolic changes that occur in fatty acid oxidation during the rapid growth period, the activity of carnitine palmitoyltransferase was measured in four groups of animals at 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks of age.Muscle samples were taken from the soleus after animals were anesthesi2ed, and the samples were assayed for CPT activity. The CPT activity was significantly higher at 4 weeks than at 8, 12 and 16 weeks (p0.0001), and the fl week activity was significantly higher that the 16 week animals. It was found that there were two distinct phases of decline in CPT activity. The first occured from 4-8 weeks where a 74% drop in activity was recorded. The second phase was a more gradual decline that occured after 8 weeks. 21% decline in activity occured between 8 and 12 weeks, followed by a 23% decrease after 12 weeks. The first drastic drop in activity can be attributed to the residual heightened enzyme concentration carried over from the suckling period in which the rat was exposed to a high fat diet found in the mother's milk. The second phase of the decline in activity is due to a dietary change which caused a shift in metabolism from fat to glucose as the primary carbon source for fuel. / School of Physical Education

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/183712
Date January 1989
CreatorsSites, Dawn L.
ContributorsBall State University. School of Physical Education., Craig, Bruce W.
Source SetsBall State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Formatv, 47 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.
SourceVirtual Press

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